E is for Enough

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Wow, one week in and I'm already bored with my own "April A to Z Concept."  I think that, rather than continue to grind my way through the whole "deCom" concept, I can simply synopsize how the campaign would work.

  • PC's are heavily armed cyborgs with possible anti-social tendencies.  In short, your typical RPG group.
  • Adventures initially revolve around killing bigger and badder robots.
  • Roleplaying opportunities exist between the RPG group and other deCom crews, government officials, and shady arms dealers.
  • The campaign really gets rolling when there's a shift in the system, e.g. the mimints turn out to be more intelligence than believed, the First Families get anxious about how they've created an uncontrolled mass of super-soldiers in their own back yard, or (SPOILER ALERT) the Martian AI satellites begin to connect with the mimints and/or deCom command heads.
  • I didn't get around to mentioning the Martian AI satellites?  Oh well, they're there.  You should read the book.
In terms of what rules to use, aside from the usual suspects of generic rules (like GURPS) I thought Eclipse Phase might be an interesting option, or (and this may cause a revocation of my GM card) Rifts.

I think that what initially appeals to me as a campaign concept is the same thing that really puts me off, namely the over-equipped cyborg idea.  I remember reading the book and going "damn, that sounds like a gaming group."  Now, after some consideration, I'm thinking "damn, that sounds like a gaming group," only in a totally different tone of voice.

I'm not a big fan of RPG's that get caught up in large amounts of gear, because as a certain point the return factor on that level of crunch almost always gets to be negative.  If there was a way to really ensure that the human factor of a deCom campaign could be maintained, then I think it might be interesting, but good luck with that.  As it was, it only took up a chapter or two of the book, which should say something.

Well, from here on out I'll try to come up with interesting RPG-related stuff to talk about.

Comments

  1. CounterFettApril 5, 2013 at 7:37 AM

    This is why I am on my current 'Dungeon Squad' kick. Because you can hand wave away a goodly amount of the gear aspect. The players pick a couple of skils they're good at, assign dice values to them, and you're done.

    It demands a certain level of role play over roll play. Takes the right kind of group to play along though. I've only used it for solo gaming, so no idea how that would work in a crowd.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WQRobbApril 5, 2013 at 9:03 AM

      For whatever reason (maturity, ADD...) I've lost a lot of my stomach for gear-heavy game systems, especially those that focus pretty heavily on weapons. It's too easy to fall into the trap of "better gaming through better stuff"

      Delete
  2. Joe RichardsonApril 5, 2013 at 1:46 PM

    I did some D&D back in the day, but man, I think our RPGs were primitive by today's standards. You had a thin book of rules, dice, a screen, and scratch paper.

    And friends. I guess that's what it comes down to, eh? Does a game offer a good group experience. If so, you're good to go. If not, you're off to better things.

    Hey, nicely written post. Hope your AtoZ is grand--and good luck!

    Best,
    Joe
    E: Edging Toward Home

    ReplyDelete

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